Neste Shipping completes its statutory employer-employee negotiations

Neste Oil’s shipping subsidiary, Neste Shipping Oy, has completed the statutory employer-employee negotiations initiated on 4 February this year. Following the negotiation process, Neste Shipping has decided to terminate the ship and crew management agreements in respect of three vessels jointly owned with the Swedish-based Stena Group and time-chartered to Neste Shipping with agreements ending 2017.

As a result of the termination of these agreements, the number of Neste Shipping personnel, both at sea and in the office, will be adjusted by 124 persons. 21 persons will be made redundant and the other reductions will take place through voluntary retirement and the termination of fixed-term employment contracts as allowed for under the terms of these contracts. The reductions in personnel will take place mainly during 2013.

These measures are the result of Neste Shipping’s need to improve its profitability and secure the continuity of its operations. Improved profitability will be essential to enable Neste Shipping to make the major statutory environmental investments that will be required between 2014 and 2017, deal with rising costs, and progress with other initiatives needed to secure the continuity of its operations into the future.

The goal of the overall efficiency improvement program is to make the business profitable by increasing revenue and reducing costs by a total of around EUR 15 million annually. The decisions now taken will save approx. EUR 4 million in fixed costs annually. The plan is to achieve the remainder of the program’s target through other efficiency-enhancement measures.

When the statutory employer-employee negotiations were launched, Neste Shipping projected that it would need to reduce personnel numbers by a maximum of 130. Neste Shipping currently employs around 450 persons.

Neste Oil in brief
Neste Oil Corporation is a refining and marketing company concentrating on low-emission, high-quality traffic fuels. The company produces a comprehensive range of major petroleum products and is the world’s leading supplier of renewable diesel. Neste Oil had net sales of EUR 17.9 billion in 2012 and employs around 5,000 people, and is listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki.

Neste Oil is included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and the Ethibel Pioneer Investment Register, and has featured in The Global 100 list of the world’s most sustainable corporations for many years. Forest Footprint Disclosure (FFD) has ranked Neste Oil as one of the best performers in the oil & gas sector. Further information: www.nesteoil.com